What animal would you like to have as a pet and why?

Assuming it could be any real animal that's no extinct, you have the land for it, money is no issue. Perfect world type of question.
Personally I've always wanted a Giraffe I could feed from the roof of my house. Always thought it would be fun to have BBQ's on the roof and just have a Giraffe wonder over and feed it a bit.
Think it would also be neat to have a bunch of trees in the yard with leaves only at the bottom instead of full of leaves, so you could see 1/2 a tree, 1/2 a tree, Giraffe neck in the yard.
Also think it would double as a nice "guard dog" I know I wouldn't wanna trespass on that property.
So what pet you want and why?

ell I already have quite a few pets, I have cats, dogs and horses. But if I could have any other animal especially some exotic one I would say a monkey! There are just so cute and I always wanted a monkey. Probably would go with one of those chimps since you can train them to do stuff. Another would be an elephant although I have npo clue where I would keep it oh well haha happy mylotting.

Yeah, a chimp that can fetch would be handy for sure. I hate when the remote is just out of reach.
You should view this video, perhaps the cutest monkey you will EVER see.
http://www.wimp.com/leafmonkey

If I can afford a pet I would like to have gorilla. I like gorilla very much. From their behaviours I can find our human being’s habits. I’m always interested to know them and try to do something to help them. When I see them eyes to eyes I feel they can understand what I’m thinking. It’s really amazing animal.So if I can have a baby gorilla at home it would be fun and more interesting than other pets I can have.

IDK about a gorilla, a pet that can kick my butt in a fight that know's how to use some tools could lead to some awkward times.
But it would make an excellent "guard dog" animal for sure. Anything that can beat it's own chest b4 charging has gotta scare anyone.

i would want a dolphin as a pet.. :) i've wanted a whale but i don't think i can handle it's size so i'll have a dolphin instead... i enjoyed the enthusiasm that dolphins show to the public, they're so entertaining, and they're so filled with life... :)

Yeah a pet would make a nice pet too, intelligent and generally friendly.
If you really want to have fun with them, throw an ice cube in the pool. Their sonar will detect it but their sight won't. Makes for some fun.

I think I'd like to have an otter or two. The idea of a life of fun and frolick appeals to the 'goof off' side of my nature..Penguins would be neat too! Liz has a few knick-knack versions in the house already. Having a few standing about the yard like the queen's guard would be a fun effect along with their Charlie Chaplin walk at chow call..
ENJOY!

I would want to have a kangaroo,Because kangaroos are cool!!!!!!!!! If i needed to get a ride to game stop all i have to do is hop in his pouch just like ruu from whinnie the pooh. And if i got in a fight all i would need to do is buy my kangaroo some boxing gloves and he'll knock him out! Plus it's so cool to watch a kangaroo fool around hopping on it's two feet. And thats why i would like to have a kangaroo as a pet. Plus it's so random to have a kangaroo, you don't see people having one of those.

Kangaroo's are really neat to watch at full speed, Their hopping is really nifty to watch.
Ya nice Novelty factor in having one in the yard, trying to keep it contained in the yard would be a pain though.
IDK about getting in the pouch, pretty sure it's got a max weight of no more then 100lbs. But it would be neat to let the kids get in there.

I've always wanted a tiger for a pet (assuming, yeah, it doesn't eat me :p ). I guess it was because I was born in the year of the tiger that I like them so much compared to all the other animals that I find so cute. And having a big cat for a pet, it would be so nice to cuddle and hug him! And just think how cute it would look playing with him :D

I would want large cats. Tiger, leopard, panther, jaguar. Cheetahs are admirable, but they're too skinny for me to really want to own one. Lions are big, meaty cats like the others I named, but something about lions just puts me off.
It would also be very cool to have a platypus as a pet.

OMG a Platypus fan! YES!!!
I've always thought those things were so kewl. IDK why, they just are.
Yeah a bit cat would be a great pet assuming it doesn't eat you. Watching them hunt is really awesome. The slouched down crawl that turns into a full sprint is one of the few things I can watch again and again. Just so neat.

I would love to have sea creatures as pet. I would love a penguin. A cute one will do, not the big emperor type. That one will be scary. Also, I would love a dolphin. If shark's not scary, I might consider it as a pet but shark might eat me. Whale is too big so I guess it's a no. I think I can build mini ocean near my house~~~

A Penguin like the one's in Happy Feet would be really neat for sure.
I've always liked penguins, such smooth swimmers. The speed the build to jump out of the water has always been so fascinating to me just looks like fun.
Of course you gotta love any animal that can say, ya know what, I bet this would be easier if I just slid on my belly rather then trying to walk there. Good stuff.

I can tell you that I've got the animals that I've always wanted in my life right now. I've always loved having dogs in my life, now I have them. For the first seven years of our marriage and when I was out on my own I didn't have any animals. I think if I'd had a dog back when I was out on my own, I never would have married. No offense but my dogs make me happy, I mean taking care of them.

We already have several cats that we rescued. I would love to have a couple of dogs, a Pug and a Lab. But if I could have something other than a dog or cat, I think I would like to have an Alpaca or two. I have seen some on television and read about them and they are so adorable and I have heard they are great pets, calm and loving. If we had the land to do so, I would love to have a few of them!

Theres a few I would like to have. A white tiger or a black leopard or Jaguar. My friend has a monkey and it is so cute. So a small monkey would be cute. I also love Killer whales and that would be fun.

I would want a black wolf for a pet because it would make a good guard dog and nobody would be game enough to set foot on my property. I also think wolves are quite intelligent, which would be important when trying to train one. They would also be very protective, nobody would be able to approach you in a threatening manner.

once, when i was bored and was surfing the net i found that you could actually buy a penguin and keep it for a pet. that, i think would be the best pet in the world! however, i live in canada and though its cold part of the time, it gets pretty hot here for a good 4 months of the year during the summer.

After reading the other posts, I am not sure my squirrel finds any place. But I will still prefer that happy creature around, rabbits, dogs, panda, deers, dolphins, and fishes are other pets that I would happily welcome in my home.

Squirrel is nice, they got some intelligence. IDK if I could handle them darting around all the time like that though, but it could be fun to put "sticky tape" randomly around and watch them dart, dart, STICK. hehehe.

I will always prefer a dog as my pet. Right from my childhood, I got the opportunity to spend time with my pet dog at my native place. I use to visit every six months at my native place but even then, this family dog would just come towards me and cling to me. Just imagine how faithful they are. They recognize you by your body smell. Over all, I must say that its worth to keep a dog at home. But see that you can efford to take care for it.

Pet crocodile ehh, well IDK how much "petting" you would be doing. But I guarantee that when it begs for food by staring at you, you give in and feed it. :P
I big cuddly panda would be neat. would be fun to have a big room of stuffed animals and put the panda in there and tell guests to try and figure out which one is alive. :)

Ferret's can be so annoying though, little "gatherer" types, they love to stash things in a pile. If you try to remove the pile, they will start a new one.
The tend to love shiny things like keys!
But they are a lot of fun and cute sometimes. Watching them dive underneath the couch cause it got spooked is hilarious.

May be a swan,hehe.In the ideal world I can have a big enough pool to raise and let it swim in.I really prefer the elegance of it.And I hope one day I can be one of them too.
At the same time I would also have a shepherd dog.I'm always being moved by its loyalty.
happy today

It may sound a touch odd but I was going to say I would want a rather large spider as a pet, but while reading the responses to see if anyone else already mentioned spider I changed my mind.
Instead, remembering that you said the animal can now be extinct, I would go for an Arthropleura. I was going to add a picture of it, but apparently you can't add images to discussions and so instead, here is a link:
http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/arthropleura_crail.jpg
I hope that works, I had to write it out since I can't paste things yet :(
But yea. It was featured in an episode of a show called Primeval ages ago and I just adored it, though I can't quite remember what it eats...I hope it is vegetarian lol! As well as that I wouldn't be partial to a trilobite either, they are so adorable in their own little ways, and perhaps some real life ammonites too.
Dranz

Sometimes one can curse their lack of memory. I just noticed while picking tags that your question actually reads 'not' extinct, instead of 'there is no extinct.' Something things take a while to filter through for me, especially when I distract myself with other answers, though this would explain the lack of dinosaurs in previous answers lol
Well in that case I will stick with the spider, easy to look after, and also adorable.
(Though in the background I shall be working out a way to get my Arthropleura lol!)
Sorry about that,
Dranz :)